Rory Mulvihill’s Lloyd Dallas, right, casts his dyspeptic directorial eye over his cast for Nothing On, the play-within-the-play in Michael Frayn’s farce Noises Off
MICHAEL Frayn first had the notion to write his play-within-a-play Noises Off while observing his play The Two Of Us from the wings.
A one-act version, Exits, entered the stage in 1977, to be followed by the three-act full-fat farce in February 1982 at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, London, that has never exited ever since.
Now, this week’s Pick Me Up Theatre production will be company founder Robert Readman’s last as director at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, where he has assembled the peachiest of York casts.
Step forward Helen Spencer, Andrew Isherwood, Alexandra Mather, Rory Mulvihill, Pearl Mollison, Mark Simmonds, Craig Kirby, Jessica Hardcastle and Adrian Cook from tonight (6/10/2026) to Saturday.
“Noises Off takes a wicked look at the follies of theatre folk, whose susceptibility to out-of-control egos, memory loss and passionate affairs turn every performance into a high-risk adventure,” says Robert.
“This play-within-a-play captures a touring theatre troupe’s production of Nothing On in three stages: dress rehearsal, the opening performance and a performance towards the end of a debilitating run.”
Robert continues: “Frayn gives us a window into the inner workings of theatre behind the scenes, progressing from flubbed lines and missed cues in the dress rehearsal to mounting friction between cast members in the final performance.
“Brimming with slapstick comedy, Noises Off is a delightful backstage farce, complete with slamming doors, falling trousers and –of course – sardines.”
Taking the role of Lloyd Dallas, the sarcastic, condescending, egotistical, exasperated, temperamental director of Nothing On, is veteran York actor and erstwhile Leeds solicitor Rory Mulvihill, who turned 70 in June.
“I actually saw Noises Off in the early 1980s, very soon after it first came out, and I was absolutely blown away by it,” he recalls.
“It spoke to me as someone who performs in shows how particular actors react to things going wrong on stage.
Curtain call: Pick Me Up Theatre’s Pearl Mollison, left, Craig Kirby, Alexandra Mather, Andrew Isherwood, Helen Spencer, Adrian Cook and Mark Simmonds in character for Nothing On, the play-within-the-play in Michael Frayn’s Noises Off
“I particularly remember the dizzy blonde character Brooke Ashton (to be played this week by Alexandra Mather), one of those actors who knows she has certain lines to say in a certain order, and whatever happens, she will get them out in that order.
“Noises Off has a great attraction to the public, but it has ’even more so to actors, who crave playing Frayn’s roles.”
Relishing his latest role, Rory says: “The great thing about my part is that I’m able to reproduce some of the characteristics of the directors I’ve worked with – and Frayn has done that too of course.
“I don’t normally get involved in ‘back stories’, but Frayn has done a spoof biography of each character, and so you get enough clues from his writing in the play and the biog that Lloyd Dallas is a failed director who clearly thinks he’s better than he is. He has a very high opinion of himself.
“He’s a bully, bullying everyone, particularly the gofer, Tim Allgood, [the overworked, exhausted, and easily flustered stage manager, played by Mark Simmonds from tonight], but they all take it, all under that veneer of ‘camp theatre speak’!
“One hundred per cent you play Lloyd ‘up’. How else could you play it? I don’t think it’s possible to play him ‘down’. You couldn’t do it deadpan.”
Noises Off may be 44 years old, but its home truths of the acting world resonant as deeply as ever. “The only way you know it’s a period piece is some of its references, such as to the Queen Mother, and the lack of modern technology, but otherwise it’s timeless. However, I have grown a moustache and sideburns – my partner loathes them! – to be more in keeping with the period,” says Rory. “Fashion-wise it’s a period piece but the humour feels contemporary.”
Describing Frayn’s comedic style, Rory says: “It’s 100 per cent grounded in things he has observed – like [Alan] Ayckbourn too. Their genius is to take what they see and turn it into dialogue, like comedians do, reproducing it in a way that’s funny to the audience.
“What differs from Ayckbourn is how there’s no pathos in Noises Off. In Ayckbourn’s plays, it’s always there somewhere. It’s the same with Alan Bennett – I was lucky enough to do Chip In The Sugar, which was both hilarious and emotionally draining at the same time.”
Should you be wondering if one particular director has had an impact on Rory’s portrayal of Lloyd Dallas, he says: “I did over 40 shows with [the late] Bev Jones – and Lloyd is like him in saying ‘love’ and ‘honey’ – but unlike Lloyd, it was lovely to work with him!”
Pick Me Up Theatre in Noises Off, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, October 6 to 10, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Pick Me Up Theatre’s poster for this week’s production of Michael Frayn’s theatrical farce Noises Off